Cislunar Space VLBI Arrays for Improved $uv$ Coverage and Angular Resolution

Cislunar Space VLBI Arrays for Improved $uv$ Coverage and Angular Resolution | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Cislunar Space VLBI Arrays for Improved $uv$ Coverage and Angular Resolution Jia Yu, Lei Liu, Juan Zhang, Weimin Zheng This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7952928/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry (SVLBI) can significantly improve angular resolution by extending interferometric baselines beyond Earth's diameter. China is actively promoting the development and scientific applications of SVLBI, including the proposal to deploy a radio telescope on the lunar surface through the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), as well as the long-term goal of establishing a cislunar SVLBI array. In this research, the \enquote{lunar far side configuration} refers to placing a telescope directly at the lunar south pole, while the \enquote{multiple space configuration} broadly encompasses telescopes in lunar orbit, in Earth orbit, and at equilibrium points such as the Earth-Moon L2 or Sun-Earth L2. Based on detailed simulations with multiple configurations derived from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) ground network, we systematically evaluate the uv coverage and angular resolution of the proposed SVLBI array. The results show that: (1) in the lunar far side configuration, deploying a telescope extends the baseline and improves uv coverage, but only yields limited gains in angular resolution; (2) in the multiple space configuration, deploying telescopes achieves substantial improvements in both $uv$ coverage and angular resolution, owing to the significantly longer baselines. These findings provide important theoretical and technical support for the future development of SVLBI in China. SVLBI Orbital Simulations uv Coverage Cislunar Space VLBI Array Angular Resolution Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7952928","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":546218332,"identity":"2fc024a6-543a-4f19-b941-a284b4e3b1bc","order_by":0,"name":"Jia Yu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jia","middleName":"","lastName":"Yu","suffix":""},{"id":546218333,"identity":"c2d57b9f-cf5b-46f9-b6ab-477a50d3901b","order_by":1,"name":"Lei Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lei","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":546218334,"identity":"fdb6d9de-13b5-4c7d-90f4-ca4596790eb4","order_by":2,"name":"Juan Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Juan","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":546218335,"identity":"2557aa17-aad6-4756-b97e-bfbbce80fc4b","order_by":3,"name":"Weimin Zheng","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAr0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCSD+wHCARC2MM0jWwsxDkhb52T2mm23+3JHnZ2B++IGh5g5hLYxzzpjdzm17Zjizgc1YguHYM8JamCVyt93ObTjMuOEAgxkDY8NhwlrYQFos/hy233CA/RtxWnhAWhjYDiduOMBDpC0SEvnfbva2HU6e2cxTLJFwjAgt8jPS0m78+HPYtp+9feOHDzVEaEEAZiBOIEXDKBgFo2AUjALcAACSzjsyd4erIwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Weimin","middleName":"","lastName":"Zheng","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-10-27 11:29:01","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7952928/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7952928/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":96236713,"identity":"f79c17ad-187f-4ae8-ad93-52b526055d04","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-19 06:15:17","extension":"json","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":5590,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"cfc68ac359054795a533b153806b0040.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7952928/v1/5068dba124d378d11df2a02e.json"},{"id":99317876,"identity":"2ac1e8a3-0a2d-43bb-a86d-323967f03735","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-31 16:30:52","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2461036,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"CislunarSpaceVLBIArraysforImproveduvCoverageandAngularResolution.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7952928/v1_covered_978ecab6-2fab-4e0b-a9e0-4d0ad63931c4.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Cislunar Space VLBI Arrays for Improved $uv$\n\tCoverage and Angular Resolution","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"SVLBI, Orbital Simulations, uv Coverage, Cislunar Space VLBI Array, Angular Resolution","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7952928/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7952928/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry (SVLBI) can significantly improve angular resolution by extending interferometric baselines beyond Earth's diameter. China is actively promoting the development and scientific applications of SVLBI, including the proposal to deploy a radio telescope on the lunar surface through the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), as well as the long-term goal of establishing a cislunar SVLBI array. In this research, the \\enquote{lunar far side configuration} refers to placing a telescope directly at the lunar south pole, while the \\enquote{multiple space configuration} broadly encompasses telescopes in lunar orbit, in Earth orbit, and at equilibrium points such as the Earth-Moon L2 or Sun-Earth L2. Based on detailed simulations with multiple configurations derived from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) ground network, we systematically evaluate the uv coverage and angular resolution of the proposed SVLBI array. 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